Has there been a decision on how students and teachers will make up for school days lost to the strike?
Not yet. That decision will be made after the strike is over and teachers are back at work, said district spokesman Dan Voelpel.
He said the district isn’t yet sure how many days will need to be made up. There were three snow days built into this year’s school calendar. Teachers voted to strike after school Sept. 12, and schools have remained closed since. Today is the sixth day without classes.
Will teachers be paid during the strike? Today is payday. Voelpel said teachers will be paid for days they have worked. Today’s paycheck covers the period from Aug. 31 through Sept. 8.
The next paycheck due, on Oct. 5, will cover Sept. 9-22. Teachers voted to strike the evening of Sept. 12, and most have stayed away from their classrooms since Sept. 13.
For teachers who worked Sept. 9 and Sept. 12, their next paycheck will contain pay for those days, but not for Sept. 13-20, if those days weren’t worked, Voelpel said. If the strike ends today and teachers vote to return to work Wednesday, pay will resume from that date.
Eventually, teachers will make up any lost pay when they make up lost days later in the school year, because the district must make up lost school days for students.
Are non-teaching employees being paid during the strike?
It depends on their duties and whether they report for work. The district sponsored two optional training days with pay for bus drivers, food-service workers, para-educators and others. That pay was extra pay, in recognition that many of those employees are some of the lowest-paid hourly workers in the district, Voelpel said. The pay will not be subtracted from their future paychecks, he said.
He said the number of those workers who took advantage of the opportunity was not a majority. He said the district has not calculated the cost of the extra training days.
How much has the district spent on bargaining assistance from a Washington Employers Association negotiator?
The contract between Tacoma Public Schools and the association called for the district to pay $1,500 per session up to a threshold of 27 sessions, then $195 per hour after that. Voelpel said the threshold has been passed, but he said the district has not calculated the total cost.
He said the district needed help because it eliminated its in-house position of labor-relations coordinator in 2008, at an estimated cumulative savings of $430,000.
The union has continued to criticize the district’s decision to hire Washington Employers.
